fwiw nobody is saying the jackets should be in on him as a pure rental – the idea would be to get him to be part of a core with fantilli.
the only team that i think would be into him as a pure rental would probably be vegas.
i disagree with the notion that marner would be 'redundant' with the current set of wingers on the grounds that he's significantly better than all of them at just about everything.
he's the same size as kent johnson, but is an elite skater and a fully developed player.
he's got johnny gaudreau's hands/playmaking, but in a bigger package, elite defense, higher willingness to shoot and more consistent production.
he's far more productive and consistent than their current RW1 (laine) without the question marks about health/availability, is a better power play weapon, and, again, plays elite defense.
he scored at a 101-point per 82gp pace this year, higher than marchenko (44-point pace) and chinakhov (45-point pace) combined – again, while playing elite defense.
It's great to compare players on different teams, as I can't remember Laine, Chinakhov, or Marchenko playing with similar players to Marner. You're also forgetting age, Marchenko is 3 years younger, Chinakhov is 4. I'm very interested to see how many points Mitch would have had if Toronto had a similar lineup to what we had last season, and he had to play 8 different lines, like Laine with an AHL defense and bottom 6 centers. Same with Chinakhov and Marchenko playing with Voronkov/Jenner/Sillinger.
Now to Even Strength/60 and his center.
Marner
2021/22 - 3.6 (Matthews 3.65)
2022/23 - 2.83 (Matthews 3.22)
2023/24 - 3.1 (Matthews 3.28)
Laine
2021/22 - 2.93 (Jenner 2.19)
2022/23 - 2.71 (Jenner 1.83 and Roslovic 1.97)
Unfortunately, it's hard to count Marchenko and Chinakhov, as not only are they younger, but they've played less in the NHL, and Yegor has been injured a lot.
Still compare Laine and Matthews - goals (only for comparing, I don't claim Patrik is better than Austin)
Matthews
2021/22 - 2,08 (ta/60 Marner - 2,23; Bunting - 1,99)
2022/23 - 1,32 (ta/60 Marner - 2,0; Bunting - 1,21)
Laine
2021/22 - 1,47 (ta/60 Voráček - 1,77; Nyquist - 1,5; Jenner - 1,22)
2022/23 - 0,97 (ta/60 Roslovic - 1,54; Gaudreau - 1,48; Chinakhov - 1,33; Johnson - 1,01; Marchenko 0,23)